Gunman's traps disabled

AUTHORITIES in the United States have set off a controlled detonation inside the apartment of the man accused of a mass cinema shooting that killed 12 people.

The police bomb squad undertook the delicate task of disabling what they described as sophisticated explosives at the Aurora, Colorado, apartment of suspect James Holmes, who officials believe booby-trapped his home before embarking on a shooting spree at the local theatre on Friday.

The bomb squad used a robot to place a tube - known as a "water shot" - near an explosive device in the apartment.

The water shot was then detonated to disable the explosive.

Photos of the apartment, taken by a camera raised up to the third-floor window, showed jars of ammunition on the floor and "things that look like mortar rounds," Aurora police chief Dan Oates said.